


Raynestown

by Ultra



Category: Firefly
Genre: Action/Adventure, Attempt at Humor, Drama, Episode: s01e07 Jaynestown, F/M, Friendship, Help, Heroes & Heroines, Pre-Relationship, Sacrifice
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-08-24
Updated: 2009-08-24
Packaged: 2019-08-03 16:04:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 9,080
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16329182
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ultra/pseuds/Ultra
Summary: AU Jaynestown. River joins in the adventures on Higgin's Moon, as happy as the mudders to worship the Hero of Canton, the man they call Jayne. Along the way, she proves capable of surprising him, more than his newfound hero status ever could.





	1. Teaser

As the crew of the Serenity walked down the ramp and faced the view of Canton laid out before them, no-one was particularly impressed with what they saw, or smelt for that matter.

“Well, Canton really, really stinks,” said Simon pointlessly, as if anyone needed telling!

Mal pretty much ignored him as he explained the particulars of the job.

“Kessler’s our man, he’s holding the goods we’re to deliver. We go in, we make contact. Easy peasy,” he told his crew, turning to Zoe he continued. “Zoe, you’re holding down the fort. Call ahead to Bernoulli, tell him we’ll have his merchandise there end of the week,” he told her at which she nodded her agreement.

“Don’t I usually stay with the ship?” her husband asked with a slight frown as he glanced between Zoe and Mal who rolled his eyes.

“It’s a simple job,” he sighed. “You both have a hankerin’ to stay behind, you do it, doesn’t bother me none,” he told them, as the couple looked at each other with a gaze that said they certainly wouldn’t be bored alone together.

“Hey, Cap’n?” Kaylee piped up then. “Don’t you think Simon should come with us?” she suggested, as the others looked a little uncertainly at the mechanic and doctor both. “You said yourself this was an easy one, and he’s got to get a little outlaw field experience sometime.” She shrugged, unable to say anything else she might’ve used as a reason, as River ran down the ramp to stand between them.

“Yes, we agree,” she said with the biggest grin on her face. “We both should go, see the sights, learn of this mud making procedure.” She smiled widely as Mal looked vaguely amused by her enthusiasm.

“Er, this ain’t a family picnic, nyen ching-duh,” he told her, scratching the back of his head as he looked back at her. “We got us some business to do.”

“Won’t get in the way,” she promised. “Besides, Simon is more qualified to pose as a buyer here” she told the Captain plainly. “Lily-white and pasty with fancy clothes - looks like a man of business with money,” she pointed out.

“River!” Simon was indignant at his sister’s way of describing him and yet she looked honest and innocent as ever she had as she looked back at him without a hint of a smile now.

“Huh.” Mal looked thoughtful a moment. “Could be your sister has a half decent plan there.” He nodded, as he looked the Doctor over. “Should’ve thought of it my ownself,” he considered. “Fine, the Doctor and River come with me, Kaylee, and Jayne. Preacher, I assume you’re happy enough stayin’ behind with Wash and Zoe?”

“Yes, I shall revel in the peace and quiet for a while.” Book smiled amiably as the crew parted company at last.

“Now we gotta take the Doc and the Crazy girl on mission?” grumbled Jayne as he stomped down the ramp, fastening his hat and goggles on tight for fear of being recognised here. “Day keeps gettin’ better and better.”

* * *

Simon had seemed like a good choice to pose as the boss making a deal for mud, but under the pressure the boy cracked too easy. Even River had found it amusing, though she, along with Kaylee, had assured her brother he did just fine.

“Boy’s gonna get us killed,” muttered Jayne to Mal, clearly less than impressed by the boy’s performance. “Let’s just do the deal and git,” he suggested, something that River clearly overheard.

“Jayne-man’s disguise is drawing much more attention than brother’s shameful acting skills,” she noted, wide eyed and innocent even as the mercenary turned and glared at her.

It didn’t bother River. She knew very well what went on in Jayne’s head, sometimes a little more than she needed to know, but that was fine. He acted like he hated her and Simon, and perhaps where her brother were concerned that were true, but River knew very well that whilst her fugitive status and crazy outbuurts made Jayne Cobb nervous, her physical appearance was at least alluring to him. Strangely, of all the crew, he was her favourite. Somehow she knew she was safe when he was there, and the voices that crowded her head were often quieter in his company. She hadn’t found a logical explanation for this yet, she just knew she liked it.

“You ain’t been here in years, Jayne,” the Captain was telling him, as River tuned her ears back to the conversation around her. “You really think you need that get-up? Ain’t not a one of these folk gonna recall you was ever here.”

“Uh, Cap’n?” Kaylee interrupted, gesturing in front

Mal turned his head slowly around, taking his eyes off Jayne only to find a copy of the man’s face staring back at him. A whole statue stood there on a pedestal, an excellent likeness in mud and clay. All the five members of the Serenity crew could do was stand and stare a long moment, before River suddenly spoke;

“Hmm, this could prove problematic...”


	2. Act One

“Jayne?” said Mal, though he never glanced away from the statue that stood before him, looking decidedly like his merc. “You want to tell me how come there’s a statue of you here, starin’ at me like I owe him somethin’?” he asked him.

“Isn’t it obvious?” River cut in before her crewmate could even open his mouth. “Statue in town square is sure sign of hero-worship,” she said, sounding like a reference book of some kind. “Jayne Cobb is a hero here.” She smiled, as if she were proud of the man she had no business caring for, truth be told.

“Well, that sounds like an... interestin’ theory,” said Kaylee as she too stared on up at the statue still, with Simon by her side doing the self same thing.

“This must be what going mad feels like,” he said vaguely as Mal glanced from one Jayne to the other, waiting for a real explanation of what the hell was going on here.

“Look, Mal, I got no ruttin’ idea what this here is for,” he declared. “I was here a few years back, like I said. Pulled a second-story, stole a lotta scratch from the Magistrate up on the hill, but things went way south, and I had to high-tail it,” he said, glancing back at the still grinning River with a hard look. “That don’t make me no hero.”

“Others think differently,” she told him sweetly, just as a whistle blew and the mudders shifts changed.

“Hows about you lower that pretty voice of yours, Crazy,” he urged her, “and ‘stead of hangin’ around playin’ art critic until I get pinched by The Man, how’s about we move the hell away from this eerie-ass piece-a-work and get on with our ‘creasingly eerie-ass day?” he almost begged of Mal, as he along with the Doc and Little Kaylee continued to stare like they were hypnotised.

Sure, it was a nice statue, a good likeness that showed off his muscles and his looks pretty well, and made him look damn fine and all. Still, it didn’t make no sense for the people of this crazy place to love him like a hero, when all he’d done was rob Boss Higgins and he hadn’t even done that well enough to keep the cash!

“Look, I’ll pay for the drinks if we head for the nearest drinkin’ hole, right now!” he urged the crew who stood standing and staring still, even as the mudders moved all around them, starting to take notice of the small crowd that had formed around their special statue.

“I’m movin’!” Kaylee quickly answered, practically dragging Simon behind her by the hand.

Mal was no more than a step behind and River hurried along to keep up with Jayne as he happily moved on at last. Still, the young raven-haired woman couldn’t help but spare the statue one last glance. It was the perfect likeness of Jayne-man, strong and silent as he usually was. She couldn’t wait to see what his reaction would be to the story she already knew from the minds of the mudders all around.

* * *

Settled into the local tavern, all huddled around a table in the back corner, the partial Serenity crew received a bottle each from the bartender and tried not to stand out too much. River had deliberately sat herself down between Jayne and Kaylee, with Simon and Mal across the table from them. She stared at the bottle before her, eyeing it with suspicion.

“Um, is this strong alcohol?” the Doctor asked Mal, “because I’m not sure that River should...”

No sooner had he begun than his sister had the bottle to her lips, gulping at the liquid within.

“Wo Bu Shin Wo Dah Yan Jing!” the merc beside her exclaimed. “Gonna make yourself sick, girl,” he declared, sure a little slip of a thing like her couldn’t handle such a strong drink.

“Has a kick,” she gasped, coughing a little as she finished drinking. “Yummy though.” She grinned, taking another sip, much to the amusement of the Captain.

“You go easy, mei mei,” Mal advised her. “Room starts spinning, you stop drinking, dohn ma?”

“Aye-aye, Captain.” She mock-saluted him, and he honestly wasn’t sure if it were a drunken reaction or just her usual crazy one.

Right now he wasn’t in a mind to worry on it as he spotted a well-dressed man across the bar.

“Now what’s a gussied-up fella like you doin’ in a place like this?” the Captain muttered to himself, unnoticed by anyone else as Jayne yelled nastily at a kid who seemed to find staring at him the greatest of new hobbies.

As the as yet nameless man in the finer clothes made his way over to the table and talked over business dealings with Mal, Kaylee and Simon got deep into a quiet conversation about nothing that interested her, leaving River to observe the scene and enjoy her drink. It was hot and strong as it passed through her slight form, felt good on the inside of her though. The voices and images that too often filled her head grew fuzzy and swirly, leaving her with a pleasant floating feeling, not unlike being out in the black of space. Oh yes, River liked it very much.

“What is this goodness?” she asked Jayne as she sipped some more.

“Mudder’s Milk,” he told her gruffly, still distracted by his surroundings and mindful of being recognised for the fear of what trouble it’d bring. “You go easy on it too, it’s strong stuff,” he warned her, making River smile.

“She always knew you cared.” She giggled as he glared at her, knowing it angered him to be told he was soft in any way at all.

She knew a good heart lie behind the toughened exterior Jayne Cobb showed the world. Such a thing would be proven more than once before tonight was through, starting right about now, she realised, as anything Jayne might’ve been about to say was completely obliterated by a busker in the far corner of the tavern, starting up singing a new song.

“Jayne! The man they call Jayne!” he boomed out for all to hear, as the crewmates all looked over in astonishment, muttered Chinese curses falling out of Jayne’s mouth one after another, not least when the whole crowd joined in the tune a second later.

_“He robbed from the rich, and gave to the poor,  
Stood up to The Man, and gave him what for  
Our love for him now, ain’t hard to explain,  
The Hero of Canton, the man they call Jayne!”_

River had a huge grin of her face as she bounced in her seat to the happy tune that the busker continued to sing, whilst her friends continued to look astonished by the turn of events that had not surprised the Reader one little bit.

_“Our Jayne saw the mudder’s backs breaking  
And he saw the mudders’ lament  
And he saw the Magistrate taking  
Every dollar an’ leavin’ five cents.  
So, he said, ‘can’t do this to my people’  
‘Can’t crush them under your heel’  
Jayne strapped on his hat, and in ten seconds flat,  
Stole everything there was fit to steal.”_

As the crowd began their chorusing over again, Mal asked Jayne what in the ‘verse as going on. To his credit, he was telling the truth when he said he had no idea.

“No, _this_ must be what going mad feels like,” Simon noted, only to have River shush him, eager a she was to hear the rest of Jayne-man’s heroic tale from the man that would sing of it.

_“And here’s what separates heroes  
From common folk like you an’ I  
The man they call Jayne, turned ‘round his plane  
And let that money hit the sky.  
He dropped it onto our houses  
He dropped it into our yards  
The man called Jayne, stole away our pain  
And headed out for the stars.”_

A third chorus began and Jayne turned away, gulping down the remainder of his drink much faster than he ought, explaining to Mal that what the song said was true.

So apparently hypnotised were the crew by both the song being played and the explanation Jayne gave, not a one amongst them noticed that River was now up from her seat and dancing a merry jig to the tune being played, being spun around by anyone who would take her hand. There certainly wasn’t a shortage of menfolk willing to dance with the pretty young thing, and River laughed happily as she was thrown around the room in a joyful dance of which she became the epicentre.

Simon thought about rescuing her, but she hardly seemed to need such an act of heroism. She was in her element, dancing around like she used to as a child and yet as happy for the male attention it seemed as any grown woman should be. As the song reached a conclusion, she was spun out of the arms of her latest dance partner, somehow landing back at their table, and straight in the lap of Jayne.

“Perfect catch, Hero of Canton,” she told him, perhaps a little louder than she should. “My hero too,” she added then, so softly he wasn’t even sure if he heard right and didn’t have time to check as he lifted her effortlessly from his knee and put her back on the bench beside him

“You ain’t helpin’!” he snapped at her, before turning back to Mal. “Captain, now they’re off the subject of me, shouldn’t we be gettin’ the hell out of here?” he practically begged, glad to see Mal nod his head and agree to the suggestion.

The crewmates all got up from their table then and strode out of the tavern fast, before anyone noticed who was there. Unfortunately for Jayne, the mudders were a little smarter than their hero. The boy he’d seen staring at him before may have left the tavern when yelled at, but he hadn’t forgotten who he’d spotted there. In the time between then and now he’d rounded up every mudder he could find and told them of Jayne’s return. This was why when the partial crew of Serenity exited the building they were greeted by an almighty crowd, all chanting for their hero: Jayne.


	3. Act Two

Jayne hadn’t a clue how to react to the group of Mudders stood before him now, filling his view, chanting his name, and apparently worshipping him as some kind of hero. In a moment, he’d turned on his heel, hurrying back into the sanctuary of the tavern and demanding a drink at the bar. He hoped for things to be calmer inside the drinking hole, but others had very different ideas. The worst of it was, the one shouting loudest about his newly found hero status seemed to be one of his own damn crew!

“Good people of Canton!” River yelled happily from atop the end of the bar. “Welcome back your hero!” she told the gathered crowd who listened one and all. “Here he is - it’s Jayne!” she declared, gesturing towards him, starting an applause that echoed around the whole tavern.

Jayne looked at the girl with a glint in his eye that didn’t bother River at all. He wouldn’t hurt her, not really. She only wished he’d admit to what he’d really like to do with her, because in her current state of slight drunkenness she would have no problem with welcoming his advances, or even making a few of her own. Of course, Jayne was soon distracted from the young woman stood atop the bar as his drink was knocked from his hand and hastily replaced with a shot of the best whiskey in the house.

Cheers went up all around, every mudder, young and old, thrilled by the return of their hero. They were all around him, slapping his back and shaking his hand, much to the amusement of River who laughed out loud as Simon helped her down from her platform to solid ground once again.

“Sweetie, you really didn’t oughta be up there,” Kaylee warned her friend. “Mightn’t a’ been safe.”

“They see us as Jayne’s people,” said River, telling both the mechanic and her own brother how it was. “They would no sooner hurt the army than its leader.”

“River, Jayne is not our leader,” Simon quickly reminded her. “He’s just some... big ape-man... gone wrong thing,” he said with a vague hand gesture in the general direction of the man in question.

“Er, yeah, I really wouldn’t be sayin’ that here, Simon,” he was swiftly warned by Kaylee as a couple of mudders looked at them in a threatening way. “He was just jokin’,” she said with a smile as she pulled the doctor and his sister away. “Let’s just get another drink, leave Jayne to his fans and the Cap’n to his business,” she said, glad to be out of an awkward situation for a while at least.

* * *

River liked to watch, take in a scene, feel the emotions of those around her. When she gained her abilities to read people she wasn’t sure, but it was one of her greatest gifts to have, and happiest to use. She experienced so much through others, understood so much that other young women her age never would.

The Captain was unhappy right now, and it showed on his face, though River doubted anyone else would have noticed. A part of him was jealous of the attention Jayne received. Another part was concerned that his plan would fail and yet River herself had confidence in Mal to turn this situation to his advantage, the way he so often did.

Across the room, Kaylee and River’s own brother Simon sat together, slowly getting closer to unconsciousness through over-consumption of the beverage they called Mudder’s Milk. Simon was losing the inhibitions that meant his feelings for the ship’s mechanic remained hidden, which should end well, but her brother was such a boob, River would guess even now that the whole situation was bound to end badly.

Sipping her own potent drink, the girl who had hardly ever been permitted alcohol growing up enjoyed the warm feeling that filled her body. She felt strangely confident because of it, and more womanly than she ever had before. Her eyes drifted to Jayne as a cheer went up around him.

The full story of his heroics had been told over and over, as the Mudders showed their appreciation for what he had done. They had been allowed to keep the money he had dropped on them, deliberately or not, and for this they loved him. River didn’t need a reason such as this, she loved Jayne because she believed she was simply born to do so. She had no better reasoning than that.

It was this, she suspected, that caused the pain in her chest and the fire in her eyes as she realised Jayne had a another woman held tight to his body. She knew the intentions of both parties where this union was concerned, and one was far more heinous than the other. Jayne-man wished to lie with a woman, purely for the sake of physical release which River could make sense of, but the whore was not to be trusted. She did not seek to please or worship the town hero. No, she had a plan to steal all she could take and bolt before Jayne had a chance to get his pleasure from her. All this, River knew, long before the whore whispered in the mercenary’s ear and crept up the stairs to the upper level of the tavern.

Jayne was to follow in a few moments, but River was not about to let him be used this way. Putting her cup down on the bar she hopped down from her stool onto slightly wobbly legs and, unnoticed by anyone, slipped out of the room, up the stairs to find where the whore was hiding and deal with her once and for all.

* * *

Jayne threw his latest shot of whiskey down his throat and declined the next refill. Drinking he liked; a party and hearing of his own heroics, he was getting well used to and enjoying tremendously, but there were other pleasures he was hankering for that required a little privacy and the use of a bed. Staggering more than a little, he bid a fond farewell to his fans for now, and headed for the stairs that seemed to swing back and forth of their own accord as he moved towards them.

Still, he battled against the symptoms of his drinking and moved up the steps as best he could, headed for the room where his woman was waiting for him. She wasn’t as pretty as some he’d had, but a whore was a whore and it wasn’t so much her face he was going for. He had imagination enough to get by with whatever he was given and this one in particular he liked ‘cause she was offering everything for free on account of his being a hero.

Jayne tripped on his way to the bedroom door, the one across from the stairs, that was the one the girl had said... the girl who’s name had fallen out of his head somewhere between the bar and the door. It didn’t matter, he wasn’t much for names anyhow, even less so than he was for caring what the whore looked liked.

As he got the door open, he realised she was already in the bed, and he guessed without her clothes, since a dress was slung over the back of a chair in the corner, one he’d seen on a person not long before. It didn’t occur to Jayne at all that the woman in the bed might not be the one he’d come to see, and that the dress he recognised was not the one his free woman had been wearing at all. Sure, he’d seen it before but on a very different female form, one he desired, but had never really seriously considered climbing in to bed with. Now he was doing just that, of all unholy mistakes. Drunk as he was, he had no idea what he was doing, who he was propositioning, until it was very nearly too late.

“Hey there, pretty thing,” he slurred as he crept in under the covers beside her, running his hand down her naked form.

“Hello, Jayne-man,” she replied, turning over to face him, watching with amusement as his eyes went comically wide, close to falling clean out of his head as far as River could tell.

“Tyen shiao duh... What in the gorram hell are you doin’ here, Crazy?!” he asked her overly loudly, a stupid thing to do if he didn’t want to be discovered in bed with the last person he ever should be close to like this.

“She doubts you need a diagram for explanation.” The young woman smiled, a look in her eyes that Jayne knew far too well and yet had never seen her wearing.

Of course, it was just about the only thing she was wearing and that hadn’t escaped the notice of this man either. Hell, but she had curves and such she had no right to own, and the sight of her now, having been somewhat uncovered in his attempts to move away from her, was showing him it all in glorious technicolor, distracting him further from what he might have said next. Too much Mudder’s Milk and whiskey combined, and then this, it was too much for any man to take.

“You can’t... you can’t be naked and in here and... naked,” he repeated, finding it difficult to think of anything else, “and damn beautiful,” he admitted by mistake, making her smile, “but naked,” came a final thought, that he either was too out of it to realise he’d already said it or just felt the need to say over and over, as if she needed to be told.

“Can be and am,” she said definitely, striking a pose meant to lure him in, and hell if she wasn’t gonna do just that if’n he didn’t listen to what conscience he did have left and walk away right this second.

“I gotta go,” he said, pulling his legs out from under the covers and sitting on the edge of the bed with his back to River, trying to gain some control over his head and his feet, and another part of his anatomy that was refusing to co-operate in a much more painful way than the rest. “Hey, where’d my whore go?” he asked suddenly as he recalled what he was here for in the first place.

“Scared her away,” River explained easily as she moved up close behind him, running slender fingers up his arm and across his bare back. “Guay Toh Guay Nown.”

“Schemin’?” he echoed, leaning forward to reach for his T-shirt and regretting it immediately as the room spun on its axis. “Well, you ain’t to be trusted neither, ya crazy mixed-up kid!” he complained as he pulled his top back over his head.

“Not a kid!” she snapped, grabbing him by the shoulder, taking him by surprise, and using his drunken and dizzy state to her advantage as she pulled him round to face her. “Isn’t that obvious?” she asked, pushing her hair back over her shoulder. “Hero wanted a woman to lie with, here she is,” she offered easily, either not understanding what she was offering him or perhaps just not taking into account how much he could really want her if’n he let hismelf.

“Oh, girly,” he said, closing his eyes and swallowing hard. “You dunno what you do to a fella,” he told her. “I could... Hell, I can’t do that to ya, just can’t,” he told himself as much as her as he turned away from her once again and she let him this time.

He was a little confused as to why she seemed to bust up laughing the second his back was turned, but her explanation came quick enough that he didn’t wonder long.

“Ma wouldn’t like it.” She giggled, apparently believing that was his main, if not only reason not to lie with her - and reminding Jayne once more of her Reader abilities.

“Ain’t nothin’ to do with it!” he protested anyway, standing up fast and immediately regretting the manoeuvre as the trials of the day and moreso the mixture of alcohol he’d consumed hit him full force and right between the eyes.

Jayne found his legs wouldn’t hold and his head couldn’t cope as the furniture hopped around the small room and the mirror on the opposite wall showed two of himself, spinning around and around.

“I don’t... oh, I don’t feel so good,” he admitted, collapsing back onto the bed with a thump.

“Too much fine whiskey,” the young woman beside him sighed as she helped him further into the bed and pulled the covers up around his chin. “Jayne-man would not perform well anyway,” she considered, though with his eyes closed and the badness he was feeling she doubted he was really paying attention to the words she spoke mostly to herself anyhow. “First time should be special for a girl.”

“Yeah,” he answered vaguely as he started to lose consciousness. “Guess so,” he said softly before he was gone, dead to the world and probably for the rest of the night.

Moving up close, River hovered over him, taking in the sight of her Jayne-man sleeping peacefully. He looked strangely angelic to her, despite the fact he behaved like the devil himself sometimes. He had proven himself even more worthy a man than she’d hoped tonight, though she was a little disappointed he had spurned her advances.

“Goodnight, Hero of Canton.” She smiled as she softly kissed his lips. “Hero of my heart,” she added in a whisper, curling her body up close to his and letting sleep claim her too.


	4. Act Three

Jayne’s head was banging like a drum when he woke to light too bright upon his face. One arm came up to shield his eyes, but the other he found would not move at all, as if a weight were crushing it. It was only when he peeked out from under his own limb he realised the weight wasn’t so very heavy, but was in fact covering the whole left side of his body.

The sight of River, curled up beside him, didn’t startle Jayne as much as it probably should’ve. She felt awful soft and warm pressed up against him, lookin’ like some kind of fallen angel as she slept on, head on his shoulder and dark hair splayed out all around. Vague memories told him nothing really happened here, despite the fact the girl was there beside him in nothin’ but her birthday suit! He had told her she was beautiful though, and that had been no lie. Scary as hell she could be when awake, in sleep she was something special.

Jayne would never say as much, but waking up to the sight and feel of her up close to him, it was somethin’ good, somethin’ he wanted to remember for a long time yet.

“Good morning, Hero.” She smiled, eyes opening all of a sudden and spoiling the quiet moment he’d been enjoying too much. “Have not slept so soundly in many moons,” she said as she sat up slowly, the covers falling away and revealing her still naked chest.

“Yeah, well, get yourself dressed, gorram’ crazy woman,” Jayne told her gruffly as he pulled himself up out of the bed, wincing a little at the way his head still throbbed as he reached for his T-shirt and re-dressed.

“Called her woman,” River observed, though she didn’t make a big deal, just pulled on her clothes as he’d told her, knowing he was trying to be decent and keep his back to her, but just as aware he could see her reflection in the mirror on the opposite wall.

His usual names for her - Crazy, Girly, and Moonbrain - she didn’t mind them, but woman was new, and appreciated, whether he realised it or not.

All River really wanted was for Jayne to see her for what she really was and not what she appeared, just as she saw him. So much more than a brutish mercenary, had a kind side that others didn’t see because he never cared to show.

Jayne headed out of the bedroom with River following behind, paying mind to the fact that if Mal or the Doc realised how the pair of them had spent the night, he might find himself in some deep fei-oo all too fast. Title of hero was no use to him floating alone in space, chokin’ on miles of airless nothin’.

“He robbed from the rich, and he gave to the poor, stood up to The Man, and gave him what for!” River sang loudly as they headed on down the stairs, causing Jayne to throw an arm around her shoulders and cover her damn mouth with his hand

Fortunately, Simon and Kaylee were out the door already, him grovelling all the way for having offended her, only willing to leave when Mal insisted he was sure River had gone back to Serenity last night. He now saw the truth, that the young woman had spent the night in the arms of his merc, and that was beyond unsettling

“Ai Yah Tien Ah!” the Captain exclaimed, slapping a hand to his forehead and looking suitably shocked. “What in the hell were you two doin’...? I don’t know why I’m askin’ this!” he said, changing direction in a moment and looking away from the odd couple as Jayne let go of River and she rolled her eyes at his antics.

“We slept,” she said innocently. “No touching that the Captain could not approve of,” she insisted with a shake of her head as Mal looked intently at her, thinking it was unlikely she would lie. “Saved your merc from much worse,” she said smartly, looking between her Captain and Jayne who looked less than thrilled by the whole situation.

“So you say,” he grumbled, Mal watching the odd exchange that concluded with River sticking out her tongue at the man beside her.

“This Moon just gets weirder by the second,” the Captain said to himself, deciding that right now he didn’t have time to worry about what may or may not have happened between these two members of his crew. “C’mon living legend, you got a little appearance to make,” he pointed out, mindful of this job of theirs going south.

Explaining his plan to his oblivious merc made Mal feel better about his day. Problems a plenty would want looking into after their jaunt around Higgin’s Moon, but they would wait. Doc would wanna know where his sister had spent the night, and someone needed to have words with the girl about her choice of teddy bears, but now was not the time or place.

River read these thoughts right out of her Captain’s head as she followed the men across town. She knew he wouldn’t prove of herself and Jayne, but one day things would happen, and Mal, along with Simon and the rest of the crew, would just have to learn to live with it. Speaking of living, she saw a fault in Mal’s plan today, something she so often did yet never spoke a word. Usually, she knew things would work out, today someone was guaranteed to die, and only she had the foresight to ensure that it wasn’t any member of her new-found family.

“Morning, kids,” Wash greeted them as he drove up on the mule with Zoe clinging to his waist.

“Is that Jayne? Is that really him?” she joked “Wash, pinch me, I must be dreamin’!”

“Hell, I’ll pinch ya,” the man in question offered, earning himself a smack from the warrior woman that he honestly didn’t mind at all.

“Just get on over to town square, Jayne,” he was quickly instructed by Mal as the Captain climbed on the back of the trailer the mule was pulling. “River, you wanna jump on here?” he offered her but she shook her head, looking almost panicked as she backed up a step and hid partially behind Jayne’s large form.

“Unseen variable will ruin everything,” she insisted. “Can’t leave Jayne.”

“I ain’t got time to argue with you, little one.” Mal sighed, his choice of words unfortunate in the circumstances.

“I am woman, Jayne said!” she snapped, looking all kinds of angry and fearsome, compared to the sweet little girl she usually acted like. “Can make own choice,” she said definitely, practically stamping her foot like a child, a strange irony given the words she had just spoke.

Wash looked back at Mal, silently checking if they were okay to go or not, as River’s hand went to Jayne’s arm, causing him to look at her.

“Have to trust me,” she all but whispered. “Have to stay, have to,” she insisted, and there was something about the way she looked, the way she said those words that had Jayne believin’ her somehow.

“Let her be, Cap’n,” he said, glancing back at Mal. “She ain’t doin’ no harm.” He shrugged, making Mal wonder all over again about the sanity of his own self as well as certain members of his crew as he instructed Wash they were to go now.

* * *

Jayne couldn’t help but love the feeling of being worshipped by such a crowd as this. Stood before a statue that bore his face, beholding the sight of a whole moonful of Mudders, cheering only for him, it was a mighty fine thing for the man who never received so much as a kindness of words from any other person he knew.

Amongst the mud splattered faces and ragged clothes, stood the figure of a young woman who was surprising Jayne more these past few hours than even this whole gorram planet had. River was like no other female he ever met or ever cared to. She seemed so stuck on him, it was almost cute, and at the same time scary as hell, though he wouldn’t admit it.

Concentrating on the crowd and the task at hand, Jayne realised he wasn’t gonna keep them happy ‘less he made the speech they were demanding. ‘Course that was a hell of a lot easier said than done.

“I’m no good with words, don’t use ‘em much, myself...” he started to explain as River kept her ears on Jayne’s words but her eyes peeled for the danger she know would come. “But I want to thank y’all for bein’ here and for thinking so much of me. Far as I see it, you people been given the shortest end of a stick ever offered a human soul in this crap-heel ‘verse... but you took that end, and you, y’know... you took it, and that’s... well, I guess that’s somethin’...”

Jayne concluded what might have been the ‘verses most pointless speech and yet it was much appreciated by those that would worship him and his apparent kindness. River even heard Mal and Kaylee speak well of their crew-mates speech, though she was not interested in their presence, or the worried thoughts her Captain was having about her. No, River had more important things to be concentrating on, because someone in the crowd was not on Jayne’s side and was instead hell bent on bringing her man down.

“Here it comes,” she whispered to herself, wincing before the shotgun blast was ever heard.

The applause was gone in an instant and when River opened her eyes again she saw the ugly sight of a twisted old man, holding the gun that had just been fired into the clear blue sky.

“Stitch Hessian,” she heard Jayne sneer, though she spared no time to glance his way. “Where you been hidin’? You gone and got yourself lookin’ mighty hideous”

River moved silently through the crowd, mindful of any move Mal might make if he caught sight of her. She had to be careful, had to be in position at the right moment to ensure no innocents lost their lives today.

“Yep. Now Jayne gets his,” the Foreman of the Mudders muttered, but River knew better than that.

“No, he does not,” she whispered, though not a single soul heard her, all eyes and ears focused on Stitch and Jayne alone.

The two men faced off against each other, the truth that River had always known being easily revealed. Hessian tried to suggest that Jayne dropping him from the plane made him no hero, but that wasn’t true. There were many more reasons for the altercation that had let to this bad old man being ejected from the hover-plane before the money ever fell to the Mudders aid.

Oh, River may be crazy but she wasn’t stupid, she knew it was never Jayne’s plan to share that which he had stolen, but he was no more the devil that Stitch Hessian would paint him than he was the true blue hero that the crowd gathered here would insist.

River felt the rush of usual fear that ran through Jayne as he reached for his knife, the only weapon he had been permitted to bring here to this moon. She had weapons of her own and more powerful than even the old man before her with the gun in his hands.

As Stitch cocked the gun with plans to fire at Jayne, River made the move that came as naturally as breathing to her. Mal could hardly believe his eyes, and Jayne was equally as shocked as the young woman they’d never seen be proper violent in the whole course of knowing her, ducked down and swept Stitch Hessian’s legs from beneath him, knocking him onto his back with the shot gun still in his hands. The bullet he’d fired had gone well wide of its mark as she knew it would, but there was no chance for celebration as Stitch grabbed the elegant leg that would try to keep him pinned, spinning poor River off her feet and onto her back in a second, switching their positions and leaning over her with the gun pressed into her chest.

“Now,” he sneered. “What do we have here?”


	5. Chapter 5

“Now, what do we have here?” sneered Stitch Hessian, pushing the muzzle of his wasted gun into River’s abdomen and causing her even more pain than had occurred when he’d spun her into the dirt.

She could foresee a lot, but the poor girl hadn’t banked on the injuries she would come away with today. All she’d known for sure, from the moment the day dawned, was that she had to intervene in this, or the consequences for others would be much worse than any fate she suffered.

Stitch couldn’t kill her with bullets, but the gun was still a weapon, heavy and vicious in the hands of a desperate man. She closed her eyes against the pain that jarred her body, and against the sight she saw a second before it actually happened. Captain may have a name meaning bad, but deep down he was good, protective of his crew, his family. He leapt into the fray only to have Stitch attack with his gun, catching Mal in the face and knocking him back, blood running from his nose and his vision suffering some. He would’ve landed right on top of Kaylee had he fallen completely but fought to keep his footing with the little mechanic’s help.

With Stitch’s attention taken a moment, River had time to regroup. She found her strength and grabbed at the foot that pinned her down, pushing it away and scrambling to her feet, running for cover this time instead of remaining in the fight. She saw Jayne go for his knife and knew the battle would be over soon. He was employed for his skills with weapons and violence, and though River believed wholeheartedly in his capacity for good, in his caring heart that beat deep beneath the tough exterior, she wouldn’t for a second doubt that he would kill this man to save himself, to save all of them.

Jayne yelled for Stitch’s attention, throwing his knife a second later and sending it sailing across the space between them, embedding itself in the other man’s chest. Gun already gone from his hands in the struggle he’d had with River, there was nothing left for old Stitch to fight with than his bare hands, and they would not serve him well. Jayne was the bigger and stronger man, and much less injured than Stitch who’d already taken on two of the crew.

Kaylee tried to shield both her own eyes and River’s from the sight as Jayne brought Stitch down, ramming his head against the base of his statue, over and over. Blood spilt was plenty and that wasn’t what anybody wanted to see, but River could not let her eyes be hidden from this. She was part of this world now, part of this crew, and if she got her way she’d be an ever bigger part of Jayne’s life yet. This was what he did, how he lived, how he survived. One day, she might have to be just like him, kill or be killed, and she would do it too, because survival was almost all you had out in the black, just that and family.

“You okay, Cap’n?” Kaylee asked softly in the silence right after it was clear the fight was over and the enemy was gone from this world.

“Don’t fret, little Kaylee,” he insisted, wiping more blood from his face and pleased to realise the flow was already slowing. “Taken worse blows in my time, just caught me off guard is all,” he told her in a tone just as hushed, since everyone else was silent now. “I was-” he began again only to stop short.

Kaylee realised he was staring past her and, following his gaze, she noticed River was gone from her side and walking towards Jayne as he rose from his knees, staring down at Stitch’s lifeless and bloody body.

The tiny gasp that escaped River completely by accident took his attention, and the merc turned to her, still with anger flashing in his dark eyes as he looked at her. He was less than happy to see her looking past him at the man he had just now killed. A part of Jayne hated himself for the bruises that would form on her innocent flesh and the blood already trickling down her arm and face. Still, he was angry too at her for getting into all this.

“Don’t you look at that,” he told her sternly, moving over some so she couldn’t see past him no more. “Ain’t fit for seein’!” he yelled as he came towards her, grabbing her roughly by the shoulders and making her look him in the eye. “What in the hell d’ya get into this for? Gorram crazy woman!” he cursed her for her dumb behaviour, even if he did realise she might well have helped him out here.

“Could’ve been worse,” she said with a simple shrug and a sad smile. “for them, for you.”

“Didn’t you hear a word he said? Ain’t you learnt nothin’ livin’ on a boat with me?” he told her angrily, more at himself than he ever was at her, even as he pushed her lightly back and away from him. “I’m a mean, dumb, son of a bitch! You don’t get yourself almost killed for dirt like me!” he yelled at her, jabbing an angry finger in his own chest, as well as at her. “Coulda been dead, and that’s ruttin’ stupid, all of this is ruttin’ kwong-juh duh! All of you!” he told the crowd, loud enough almost for folks on the next moon over to hear. “You think someone’s just gonna drop money on ya, money they could use? There ain’t people like that!” he told the assembled men, women, and children all. “There’s just people like me,” he said, staring over at River, who even now shook her head, disbelieving the words he said.

Sure, he was no saint, but he never claimed to be. Everyone was somebody’s hero, and though Jayne couldn’t understand why yet, he was River’s hero, and ever more would be so. He didn’t know, just felt anger and pain that needed to be vented, the main reason River surmised why he made a sudden turn, moving purposefully towards the statue based on his own form and knocked it clean off its stand with a mighty heave.

Mal and Kaylee moved up behind River and all three watched as a young boy, who had since removed Jayne’s knife from the body of his old partner, held out the weapon to the man he’d been taught was a hero. Even now the kid was proud to have been this close to the local legend, despite what he had just done.

Jayne couldn’t speak, couldn’t find a way to react or behave that was befitting this crazy situation. He just took a hold of his blood-stained knife and strode away back towards Serenity.

* * *

It was hours since the crew had left Canton, and Serenity was miles and miles from the moon and its people that had got Jayne Cobb thinking harder than he had in a long time. He held his knife in his hand, the weapon that had probably saved his life, and helped take that of a man he used to run with, used to call his partner.

There was so much happened on Higgin’s Moon that he couldn’t make sense of, and only some of it was to do with his being mistaken for a folk hero. Other thing that had him gorram puzzled was the young woman who now approached him along the catwalk above the cargo bay. Silent and delicate, it was hard to believe this was the same person who had tried to seduce him and thrown herself into the middle of a fight to the death on his behalf. She seemed so fragile as Jayne watched her approach, sheathed his knife and turned his eyes away from the sight of marks appearing on her face and arms from her part in his fight.

“Don’t make no sense,” he said in a voice that was somehow too quiet to be his own, as she stepped up beside him and rested her hands gently on the rail he was already leaning his weight on. “Why the hell’d you get in that fight for me? Coulda got yourself killed,” he told her gruffly.

“Worth the price I paid,” said River definitely, running one hand down the opposite arm, past a graze that would doubtless leave a scar. “Part of this team, this crew... family now, all connected.” She smiled briefly at the thought, before turning serious again. “Besides, if I hadn’t broken, another would have shattered... couldn’t put his pieces back together.” She shook her head, brow furrowing as she saw an image of a body that never existed, a death she helped prevent, though no-one knew it.

“I’d’a been fine without your gorram help.” Jayne all but snarled at her, knowing he ought to be grateful but finding only guilt inside for her injuries, and for the people he accidentally mislead in Canton.

“Didn’t mean you,” River muttered, knowing she’d never be able to explain to him, and also that as much as she denied it, part of her reason for fighting with him was the same as her reason for waiting in his bed.

She couldn’t fix on a moment when she’d realised she and Jayne were destined. It would be a long time perhaps before the situation came to fruition, but it would happen, she just had to bide her time.

“People there loved you,” she said, reading from his thoughts that his mind was distracted by his worshippers still.

“Weren’t a one of them understood what happened out there.” He shook his head, not even looking at River as he answered her. “Hell, they’re probably stickin’ that statue right back up.”

“Probably true,” she sighed her agreement. “It is likely every man that is worshipped as a hero has faults enough as any other,” she spoke in that way only she could, like a reference book on legs or something, “but people need to believe... like the Shepherd and his symbol,” she explained, as Jayne glanced her way and listened. “Makes no logical pattern, numbers don’t come out, can’t be made into sense, but he believes,” she told him. “She believes... in you,” she said softly.

River hadn’t meant to whisper, but somehow when Jayne looked at her then, eyes meeting hers, her vocal chords would not co-operate. He made her feel things she didn’t entirely understand sometimes, but logical thinking told her these simple little moments were where it started. From this their friendship would grow stronger and into something more, something she wanted with him more than anything else in the world.

“You don’t make no sense,” he told her simply, looking entirely baffled and feeling just the same as he stared at her.

“Popular theory.” She smiled, lucid as she ever could be for a moment at least.

It was strange to Jayne, to realise there were things she understood better than him, and yet she was half his age or less. Still, what he said was true, she was some kind of contradiction. Young body and face, old soul and mind. Innocent and sweet in one moment, strong and sensuous in the next. She really was a marvel, something strange but special, and because of him she had been damaged today.

“Don’t look right all banged up neither,” he said, reaching out a hand towards her face, fingers falling away without quite touching her cheek. “Ain’t right.”

“Way of the world,” she said simply, lifting the top she wore away from her skirt and revealing her ribs and stomach that were very obviously bruised. “Every colour of the rainbow showing now,” she said as Jayne took in the sight of her injuries and winced, “but rainbows fade, good or bad, always fade,” River told him as she covered herself up again and stared across at him.

“Been a hell of an eerie-ass couple of days,” he said as he looked away over the empty cargo bay rubbing a hand over his face. “And you been the damnedest thing of all,” he told her, barely glancing her way even when he spoke to her.

“You’ll learn to love her for it,” she said, catching his attention just fast enough that he saw the smile spread across her lips before she turned and hurried away up the steps. 

Jayne opened his mouth to yell after her what a damn crazy little woman she was, but he just couldn’t do it. He had to admit, if only to his ownself, that he couldn’t find a way to argue with what she just said.


End file.
